California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton has filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission asking for an injunction to block Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from airing a television ad about the state budget crisis.

The ad is being paid for by the governor’s California Dream Team ballot measure committee, but a new FPPC regulation says candidate-controlled committee funds “shall be used only to make expenditures related to a state or local measure or potential measure anticipated by the committee, or to qualification or pre-qualification activities relating to such measures.” (I wrote about this back when Don Perata was moving money from his Leadership California ballot measure committee into his own legal defense fund.) The governor’s ad deals with state budget negotiations, Burton’s complaint says, but not with any ballot measures.

What’s particularly worrisome, Burton wrote in a letter accompanying the complaint, is that Schwarzenegger wrote to the FPPC earlier this year while it was considering the new regulation, asking for a loophole so ballot measure committee funds could still be used for lobbying. “Despite the Commission’s rejection of the Governor’s proposed changes… the Governor has chosen to run the television advertisements,” Burton wrote. “The Commission should take immediate steps to seek an injunction and any other relief it deems necessary and appropriate against the continued broadcast of the above-discussed ad under the Commission’s power as civil prosecutor.”

Balderdash, replies Dream Team spokeswoman Becky Warren.

“The Sacramento interests fighting to increase taxes and spend money we don’t have are fully aware that they have no public support,” she said in an e-mailed statement. “It’s no surprise that they would rather use political tactics in an attempt to get the ad pulled than debate the actual policy of living within our means.”

Again, here’s the ad…